Oct 8, 2020 09:19 PM
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/10/...dependence
EXCERPTS: Science & Vie, France’s largest popular science magazine, has put out monthly issues for more than 100 years, covering science, health, and technology for the broad public. Now, the magazine’s top editor has resigned after articles, written by a corporate employee, were published on the magazine’s website without the knowledge of its editors. Magazine staff have gone on strike over the interference by France’s largest marketing and media group, and they fear they are losing editorial independence.
[...] Based in a Paris suburb, Reworld Media Group in 2019 acquired Science & Vie and about 25 other magazines in a €70 million buyout of Mondadori France, a subsidiary of the Italian publisher Mondadori. Created in 2012 by internet entrepreneurs, Reworld has been criticized for replacing journalistic content with online brand content -- written to satisfy advertisers -- produced by corporate writers. French journalism labor unions say that in prior acquisitions, Reworld has gutted newsrooms and outsourced content creation to agencies. One-third of Science & Vie’s journalists opted for a package deal to leave soon after the buyout. A promise to hire more journalists later was never fulfilled, Fontez says.
Instead, the media group hired its own writer -- a fact the editors discovered only after the position had been filled. “This person was clearly given instructions to publish content on our website without having that content reread or validated by our editors,” Fontez says. Since then, Science & Vie’s team has discovered a dozen articles published surreptitiously on their website. The editors had to retract or modify the texts postpublication to keep them consistent with the magazine’s editorial standards. “There’s just been absolutely no communication with this team, and they’re not following the usual chain of hierarchy that ensures quality journalism,” she says, adding that the magazine staff and the corporate teams are physically isolated, with offices on different sides of Paris... (MORE - details)
EXCERPTS: Science & Vie, France’s largest popular science magazine, has put out monthly issues for more than 100 years, covering science, health, and technology for the broad public. Now, the magazine’s top editor has resigned after articles, written by a corporate employee, were published on the magazine’s website without the knowledge of its editors. Magazine staff have gone on strike over the interference by France’s largest marketing and media group, and they fear they are losing editorial independence.
[...] Based in a Paris suburb, Reworld Media Group in 2019 acquired Science & Vie and about 25 other magazines in a €70 million buyout of Mondadori France, a subsidiary of the Italian publisher Mondadori. Created in 2012 by internet entrepreneurs, Reworld has been criticized for replacing journalistic content with online brand content -- written to satisfy advertisers -- produced by corporate writers. French journalism labor unions say that in prior acquisitions, Reworld has gutted newsrooms and outsourced content creation to agencies. One-third of Science & Vie’s journalists opted for a package deal to leave soon after the buyout. A promise to hire more journalists later was never fulfilled, Fontez says.
Instead, the media group hired its own writer -- a fact the editors discovered only after the position had been filled. “This person was clearly given instructions to publish content on our website without having that content reread or validated by our editors,” Fontez says. Since then, Science & Vie’s team has discovered a dozen articles published surreptitiously on their website. The editors had to retract or modify the texts postpublication to keep them consistent with the magazine’s editorial standards. “There’s just been absolutely no communication with this team, and they’re not following the usual chain of hierarchy that ensures quality journalism,” she says, adding that the magazine staff and the corporate teams are physically isolated, with offices on different sides of Paris... (MORE - details)